So where do we go from here?

In a society where the death penalty is a prevalent issue there are those who support and those who do not support capital punishment. These two sides can be defined with bias as evil murderers and those that desire to exist with evil murderers. My mission is to define things without bias as this offers a clear view of both sides of the argument.

I need to examine both sides and discover why the sides believe the way they do, what they are both arguing for, how they come to different conclusions and the contradictions with the two sides.

The first of the two sides to be examined is the side that can be defined with bias as evil murderers or without bias as those that support capital punishment. Why would someone be in favor of capital punishment? All the reasons that will be mentioned clearly contain bias but this must be examined in order to fully understand this particular side of the argument. Perhaps it is because they believe in retribution or revenge, the natural feeling that occurs when something bad happens to you or someone close to you. They could possibly have the mindset of Hitler, something I will refer to as the “Hitler complex” – which involves being that the current human population is contaminated with people who do not deserve to be here. The people who support capital punishment could feel justified by the idea that the execution of the criminals was part of karma, that they got what was coming to them. Now that I have examined the bias of this side I must do the same for the other side.

The other side of the argument can be defined with bias as those that desire to exist with evil murderers or without bias as those who do not support capital punishment. Why would someone not support capital punishment? Religion plays a big role in the decision making process with number six of the Ten Commandments from The Holy Bible saying “Thou shalt not kill.” The 8^th Amendment of the United States Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment and people can interpret that as protection against capital punishment. Trials in which capital punishment is a possible punishment cost more than trials in which execution is not an option. This fact deters some people for sentencing someone to execution. Currently there only 50 women on death row in the United States in comparison to around 3,000 men. Typically more criminals are sentenced to execution when the defendant is black and the victim is white then when the defendant is white and the victim is black. This is completely biased but it must be concerned. Some people view this as gender and racial discrimination and therefore they advocate for an end to capital punishment. With a position such as a judge or a police officer comes power and prestige and naturally there will be those who abuse this power. The idea that there are corrupt people involved in the judicial system deters some people from capital punishment. Now that I have examined the bias of both sides of the argument I must examine the contradictions on both sides.

With those that support capital punishment do they consider the situation under which they are someone close them was the defendant in which they may very well change their mind and under those specific circumstances be against capital punishment. Something else that may cause those who are supposedly for capital punishment to be against it is the tremendous cost of the trial, housing the criminal until their execution and then the actual execution itself. This cost is much more than it would be for a criminal that is not facing execution. For those that are against capital punishment their views very well might change if someone close to them was the victim of a truly heinous crime. Now that the contradictions have been discussed I must demonstrate how the two sides are actually arguing for the same thing but still coming to different conclusions.

In order to know exactly what both sides are arguing for all bias must be removed. What is the central issue behind the argument? Both of the sides are arguing for holding criminals responsible for the crimes they commit but they are coming to different conclusions. Obviously those that are in support of capital punishment want to keep execution open as an option of punishment and those that do not support capital punishment say that there are other methods of punishment other than execution that should be used, such as life in prison without the chance of parole.

A Few Random Thoughts

While conducting research and talking to my mom over Thanksgiving break three interesting points came to mind.

#1) Why does it seem that there is a cultural reluctance to execute women?
#2) Is it possible to die without feeling any pain?
#3) Is mental retardation an excuse for not being sentenced to death or at least being held accountable for the crime?

In my next few posts I will examining the reasonableness of both sides of the controversy, examining naming v. labeling the sides without any bias, defining the arguments and their rationale without any bias, demonstrating contradictions on both sides and seeing how the sides are arguing for the same thing but coming to different conclusions. Before doing any of that I will be examining the different sides, the factions within the sides and the camps within the factions.

Things to Think About and Research

1. Why is there still one man sitting on New York's death row when that state's death penalty statute was declared unconstitutional in 2004?
2. Why constitutes being black, Hispanic, white and other?
3. Why is there an enormous difference in the execution rates between there is a white defendant and a black victim and when there is a black defendant and a white victim?
4. How can someone be sentenced to death in more than one state?
5. What is the case of Roper v. Simmons?
6. What is the case of Atkins v. Virginia?
7. What is the 2004 FBI Uniform Crime Report?
8. Who was involved and when and where did the two executions by firing squad since 1976 take place?
9. Why had the overall support for the death penalty dropped from 80% in 1994 to 65% in 2006 according to the May 2006 Gallup poll?
10. Why did more people choose life without parole as opposed to the death penalty when given a choice between the two options?
    

Statistics

All of these statistics were taken from the Death Penalty Information Center as of June 19, 2007.

Total Number of Executions

• 1080
• Peak in 1998 with 98 executions
• Low points in 1976, 1978 and 1980 with 0 executions
• 2007 (as of June 19, 2007) = 23 executions

States

• With = 38 (most = TX with 394 executions since 1976)
• Without = 12

Number of Executions per region since 1976

• South = 882
  
• West = 67
  
• Midwest = 125
  
• Northeast = 4
  
• National = 491
  

Race of Defendants Executed

• Black = 365 (34%)
  
• Hispanic = 73 (7%)
• White = 618 (57%)
  
• Other = 24 (2%)
  

Race of Victim in Death Penalty Cases

• Black = 14%
  
• Hispanic = 5%
  
• White = 79%
  
• Other = 2%
  

Juveniles

• Roper v. Simmons (2005) = no death penalty for juveniles (under the age of 18)
• Prior to 2005, 22 juvenile defendants had been executed since 1976
  

Mental Retardation

• Atkins v. Virginia (2002) = unconstitutional to execute defendants with mental retardation
  

Women

• 50 women on death row as of June 7, 2007 (1.7% of total death row population)
• 11 women have been executed since 1976
  

Opinion of Deterrence (notion that death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder)

• Yes = 12%
• No = 84%
• No opinion = 4%
  

Murder Rates per 100,000 (2005)

• South = 6.6
  
• West = 5.8
  
• Midwest = 4.9
  
• Northeast = 4.4
  
• National = 5.6
  

Method of executions since 1976

• Lethal injection = 911
• Electrocution = 153
• Gas chamber = 11
• Hanging = 3
• Firing squad = 2
  

Race of Death Row Inmates (total = 3,350)

• Black = 1,397 (42%)
• Hispanic = 359 (11%)
• White = 1,517 (45%)
• Other = 77 (2%)
  

For and Against

I can not simply say that someone is for or against the death penalty. I have to define "for" and "against". For my purpose "for" means "favoring executing those who commit a crime deemed by law to be worthy of death" and "against" is defined as "punishing those who commit horrible crimes by methods other than execution."

On a later post I will answer the question "Where does the controversy exist unbiasly?"

My Free Write

This is just me going on and on without censoring my thoughts. Feel free to make comments on this if you want to. I will be posting something else a little later.

Why is the death penalty even an issue? Why are people so scared about taking the life of a criminal? Why am I concerned? I wonder how we can be certain that this person deserves to have their life taken from them. Once you have ended someone's life you can not give it back. Do we have the right to decide whether someone should die because they took someone else's life? What about the first life that was taken? Is the death penalty our way of fixing the problem of people killing other people or is it simply to seek revenge? Does one death justify another? How else could we punish the people the commit the most horrible of crimes? What aspects of people's lives affect their opinion of the death penalty? For me it is my religion and the opinions of my parents as well as those of my peers. One of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt not kill" but this was written under specific circumstances and these must be understand in order to comprehend the full meaning of the commandment. Can you use a scripture reference to justify your thoughts and actions since The Bible is not accepted by everyone? How can one justify executing another? Can it be justified or is this a ritual that we take part in without giving it any thought? This is exactly what I struggle with. If we can't justify something should we even take part in it? This brings me back to the subject of revenge. Does executing the criminal really solve anything or does it simply inspire others to fall down the criminal path?

Things to do for My Next Post
#1) Examine my bias and what I am forgetting
#2) Research aspects of the death penalty that I do not even think about

What do you think?

What are your first thoughts when you read the headlines in the morning paper "CONVICTED SENTENCED TO DEATH" or "ANOTHER DEATH ROW INMATE EXECUTED"? I automatically think about what crime could have been allegedly committed. What type of crime is worthy of being put on death row, usually for quite a few years? I can almost feel myself making automatic judgments about the people involved in the alleged crime, especially the one being charged in the case. When you see that newspaper headline does your mind automatically say guilty or do you contemplate the fact that unless the judge's ruling is overturned someone's life will be taken from them? Then do you think about the life that was taken in order for it to be decided that another person should lose their life as well?